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Thursday, 21 February 2013

My Favourite Cupcake Recipe

This probably comes as a surprise to a few people, but I don't always cook paleo/healthy. Once in awhile, I've been known to create crazy decadent creations for dessert. When my coworker's birthday came up (and she bakes for us ALL the time) I decided to break out my Kitchenaid and get to work.

The chocolate cupcake is an Ina Garten recipe and is hands down my favourite chocolate cake/cupcake recipe of all time. It's got a ton of ingredients, but it's worth it in the end. It's chocolatey, slightly tangy, and moist.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In
the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream
the butter and 2 sugars on high speed until light and fluffy,
approximately 5 minutes. Lower the speed to medium, add the eggs 1 at a
time, then add the vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk
together the buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee. In another bowl, sift
together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. On low speed, add the
buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture alternately in thirds to the
mixer bowl, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the
flour mixture. Mix only until blended. Fold the batter with a rubber
spatula to be sure it's completely blended.

Divide the batter
among the cupcake pans (1 rounded standard ice cream scoop per cup is
the right amount). Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes,
until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from the
pans, and allow to cool completely before frosting.

I also use the Peanut Butter Frosting listed at the end. Normally, I actually need a little under a double batch of her icing, and I'm assuming it's because I pipe my icing. This time, I totally forgot that and didn't have enough cream to do a second batch, so I just added milk and icing sugar until I got a good consistency and taste.

Place
the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in
the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on
medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber
spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the
mixture is light and smooth.

Little (okay they were huge) cupcakes of love:

But wait! There was a secret to these fellas:

You can just barely see it, but I filled them with dark chocolate ganache.

Original Recipe found here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chocolate-cupcakes-and-peanut-butter-icing-recipe/index.html